Joseph
Campbell, the
great mythologist, taught us that we often enact the stages of the hero’s journey
in our own lives. Think of your test as one of those dragons which the hero
or heroine has to slay, in order to win the prize of his life. (Don’t those
test-names sound like dragon-growls to you: GRE, MCAT, LSAT!)
Those dragons were truly scary, but
they always looked scarier than they really were. To win the prize, you had
to prepare well, summon up your courage, and give it all you have.
Succumbing to panic led to defeat.
We no longer have to risk our
lives to proceed to the next stage in our life. Instead, we have to
vanquish these monster tests that seem designed to scare us away from
pursuing our dreams.
Be a heroine! Know that you CAN
slay your dragon with a combination of preparation and courage.
Perhaps These Can Help
You
Study!
Too often in this culture of
instant-gratification, we trick ourselves into thinking that if we breeze
through the notes just before the test, we’ll be able to sale right
through.Well, that’s bull $#!%.
The fact is, a comprehensive
knowledge of a subject is always best; and not just for the tests, but also
to be able to put what you know into a real world context, so it can help
you later in life.
You could be in an office, or an
interview, or even in a bar picking up someone of the desired sex, and for
some bizarre reason, the issue of the Roman Empire
will come up.Now, you could have
stored that info in your temporary memory, and forgotten it years ago, or
you could have studied it properly, learned the context of it, and
delivered the perfect piece of insight, at the perfect time, and impressed
your boss, gotten that job, and picked up that hot drunk person you’ve been
staring at all night.
Studying a subject in detail now,
while you have the time, will put facts and figures into real perspective,
in a way you can’t even imagine right now.
For more information on how best
to study, check out ShakeShock’s Mind Prep
section.
Math Anxiety
Everyone has experienced math
anxiety at one time or another. Don't let it prevent you from doing well
in mathematics.Math anxiety is a
learned emotional response that often comes from negative experiences
working with teachers, tutors, classmates, or family members.Symptoms include:
Panic - Feeling helpless about an
ability to do better and putting pressure on yourself, which affects your
ability to concentrate.
Paranoia - Feeling that everyone but you
knows the answer.
Passivity - Feeling that regardless of what
action you might take, you were just not born with math ability; hence you
do nothing to overcome the problem.
No confidence - You continually question
yourself and approach math by memorizing rules and procedures, rather than
through understanding concepts.
Identifying the source of your problem
is a first step in overcoming it.
Learn more about what math anxiety
is, how to take possession of your math anxiety, and get some strategies
for how to study math and take tests.Read Overcoming
Math Anxiety by Sheila
Tobias.
SAT
Time Management
Keep track of the time
You should bring a non-beeping
watch with you to the SAT exam.Before the beginning of each section, write down the time the test
will end.You can refer to this
periodically during the exam to gauge your performance.
Allocate your SAT test time wisely
Do not spend time reading the
instructions.You should do this
during your preparation and go into the exam already understanding its
structure and types of questions asked.The SAT is intentionally designed to make you feel time pressure,
and the time spent reading instructions, is better spent answering the
questions.
You will give your best
performance if you neither rush through every question nor take an
incredibly long amount of time on a few questions and leave the rest
unanswered.
There is most definitely a proper
balance between these 2 extremes.
All the questions are worth the
same number of points.As a result,
it will behoove you to NOT spend an inordinate amount of time with the more
difficult questions.
Should you have some time left over at
the end of a section... Don’t have time left over.
This 3 hour exam will play a large
role in determining the rest of your life.Think about it.Do you want
to work for people like us or would you rather be our boss?You're young and full of energy.Suck it up and spend the remaining time
checking your answers.Don't stop
working until the proctor says to.
We also strongly encourage you to
check your answers to the first questions as these are generally very easy
and you should be able to quickly catch any dumb mistakes that would have otherwise
cost you a "gimme" question.
Know the Purpose of the Test You Take!
There are two kinds of state tests
describing student achievement and each has a different purpose.
Norm-referenced
standardized tests are used "to compare the performance of a
student or group of students with the performance of a
population of other students, typically a state or national
population, [but] they serve no purpose in measuring student
achievement of the content of the standards."
Criterion-referenced
standards-based tests "measure the performance of a student or a
group of students in relation to skills and knowledge of state
standards and frameworks." This type of test is now used by many
states.
These Might Help Too
SAT Word of the Day
(We’ve got you
covered from Allopreening to Zygodactyl)
Please note that all materials on ShakeShock.com, a
subsidiary of Tucci Enterprises, is under strict copyright and all violations
of copyright infringement and electronic piracy will be prosecuted to the
fullest extent of the law.
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